Forbidden Techniquehttp://paultproductions.com/ftdd
Magic Combat meets Classroom RPGThu, 22 Jun 2017 00:21:30 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/cropped-Gold_Full-4-32x32.pngForbidden Techniquehttp://paultproductions.com/ftdd
3232Bottomless Conversation System with User Edittinghttp://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/05/31/bottomless-conversation-system-with-user-editting/
http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/05/31/bottomless-conversation-system-with-user-editting/#respondWed, 31 May 2017 22:49:04 +0000http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/?p=197The true power of our conversation system is hard for even us as developers to understand.
Conversations can go anywhere at any depth

I made a conversation designer tool

]]>http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/05/31/bottomless-conversation-system-with-user-editting/feed/0Dynamic Feature Creephttp://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/05/31/dynamic-feature-creep/
http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/05/31/dynamic-feature-creep/#respondWed, 31 May 2017 19:47:28 +0000http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/?p=154 Read More Read More]]>Good news! Forbidden Technique has made another massive leap forward. The clothing, personality, and body type randomization system to generate a school full of unique people is in it’s first working stage.
Getting off bus

Yes, I don’t currently have a belly mesh so there’s a hole in the middle of them, but otherwise I can generate a massive variety of shirt colors and pattern combinations. At this point the randomization is pretty random. I choose a bunch of colors to tint and shade different patterns and it picks several with no real color pallet.

So yeah they walk to class sit down in their seats, then after the class ends get back up and walk to their next class till the day is over. These generated student files are saved each day and so persistent relationships are trackable with each one as well.

Coming into the school

The body randomization is not immediately the most visible because textures don’t change and neither do normal maps, only the physical mesh shape and size. Unfortunately it will likely stay at this stage of variety for a short time while the rest of the mechanics are all combined into a truly playable demo.

Really awesome progress on using an avatar to move in the game and visualize teleportation for moving the player.

]]>http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/03/29/avatar-locomotion-for-vr/feed/0Go To Classhttp://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/01/27/go-to-class/
http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/2017/01/27/go-to-class/#respondFri, 27 Jan 2017 07:44:21 +0000http://paultproductions.com/ftdd/?p=137 Read More Read More]]>A big part of me feels like I’m still goofing around when it comes to Forbidden Technique. I’ve got so many half baked features, all of them with testable promise for myself, but not ready for demoing. I need to get other people in the action for feedback as soon as possible, but I’m caught trying to run tech demos of everything at once. Parts of which are good for long term planning and re-design of interlocking parts.

Other parts of it makes progress stagnant and daunting. It’s kind of like short term memorization because so many of the features are so complex. When I was setting up a system for selecting magic powers I actually had to completely scrap it all and do it again after sketching some flow charts because true organization was needed. But even with a handy flow chart to look at, it takes about an hour or 2 when I haven’t looked at the powers code for more than a day before I’m making real progress.

This turns out to make jumping back into the half built features a little more painful and slow than it needs to be. I just need to commit to a specific system and follow it through till it bumps against other missing features with nothing else to be done. So far I’ve got a power selection system, a complex VR movement system for the player, a power channeling system, an Ai generator that also generates class schedules for each student and where they need to head depending on a game time system. There is also the beginnings of the voyeurism system where the red debug boxes triggers experience gain which is boosted by many many factors, and some of those factors then contribute to a detection system which is not very good at the moment. Not very good meaning I always get caught staring at the boobs.

I think the priority I need to go with is the XP gaining system AKA Boob Watching. It’s really the core mechanic of the game that is completely different from all other games. Not only is getting it right important, but it’s the feature people need to play to know what the game is about and whether they like it. The powers are cool, the story is cool, the open world is cool, the vr player movement is cool, but those are just coincidentally awesome features. Those parts give meaning to the stealth peeping, but the farming mechanic is the definition of the game. All other features should be inspired by the core voyeurism feature and that means finishing it first complete with consequences for female disapproval and awareness mixed with social standings etc etc as it gets more refined.

Tons of games have path tracking, no one cares about the work going into path tracking. I must focus on SXP (sexy experience points).

The tricky part is that this is a stealth system in plain sight. Traditionally in games you have any guard or NPC catching you in line of sight triggering an alarm within some time, but this mechanic is more subtle and thus more complex to get to feel right.

Line of sight is important and the angle difference from where the target girl is looking to looking at you is one of the most important factors. But it’s a risk factor, not a cause by itself of being ‘Caught’. Being caught includes the girl facing your direction somewhat and observing you looking south of the face for a segment of time based on your distance from her and the accuracy (obviousness) of your gaze.

Adding on there’s the social implications/influence at play. Does the girl know you well? If not she’ll be more suspicious. Did you engage her in a conversation first? If not, why are you staring at her!! It’s a fun mechanic to play around with which is this sort of awkward meta stealth.